A pie is a baked food, with a baked shell usually made of pastry dough that covers or completely contains a filling of fruit, meat, fish, vegetables, cheeses, creams, chocolate, custards, nuts, or other sweet or savoury ingredients.

Pies can be either "filled", where a dish is covered by pastry and the filling is placed on top of that, "top-crust," where the filling is placed in a dish and covered with a pastry/potato mash top before baking, or "two-crust," with the filling completely enclosed in the pastry shell.

Some pies have only a bottom crust, generally if they have a sweet filling that does not require cooking. These bottom-crust-only pies may be known as tarts or tartlets. An example of a bottom-crust-only pie that is savoury rather than sweet is a quiche.

Tarte Tatin is a one-crust fruit pie that is served upside-down, with the crust underneath. Blind-baking is used to develop a crust's crispiness, and keep it from becoming soggy under the burden of a very liquid filling. If the crust of the pie requires much more cooking than the chosen filling, it may also be blind-baked before the filling is added and then only briefly cooked or refrigerated.

Pie fillings range in size from tiny bite-size party pies or small tartlets, to single-serve pies and larger pies baked in a dish and eaten by the slice. The type of pastry used depends on the filling. It may be either a butter-rich flaky or puff pastry, a sturdy shortcrust pastry, or, in the case of savoury pies, a hot water crust pastry.

Occasionally the term pie is used to refer to otherwise unrelated confections containing a sweet or savoury filling, such as Eskimo pie or moon pie.

One of the fondest memories for many of us, is that smell of baking pies in the oven. To be able to walk in the house and find our mother elbow's deep in baking was a sight to see. The smell of the baked fruit permeated all through the house. To see the kitchen table filled with all the working utensils was so exciting it just made your mouth water.

Pies are one of the most inviting comfort foods that there are and making, baking or eating it can lift our spirits and bring warmth to our every beings. Soothing, soul-satisfying comfort foods can bring back special memories of meaningful moment of the past. Steaming chowders, mashed potatoes, hot soup, hearty stews, warm chocolate chip cookies and fresh baked pies are all foods many of us associate with comfort. They may be simple foods but they evoke fond memories, and bring joy and comfort to our everyday lives.

How to make a pie crust: Instruction Video

How to make a pie lattice: Instruction Video

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Food & Facts

The pies of the Romans, especially at banquets in the days of the empire, were often elaborate concoctions, such as the showpieces in which were enclosed live birds.

In England meat and fish pies had become common by the 14th cent., and fruit pies, often called tarts, by the 16th cent. The mince pie was an important feature of the Christmas festivities and was called “superstitious” pie by the Puritans in protest against what seemed to them a pagan manner of celebrating a holy feast. The mincemeat filling was a finely chopped, cooked mixture including raisins, currants, apples, suet, sugar, spice, and often meat, brandy or cider, candied peel, and other ingredients. ~

The English settlers in North America retained their taste for pie and adapted it to their new conditions, creating the pumpkin and the cranberry pies.

Pie has remained a popular dessert in the United States. In Italy, pie, or pizza, consists, in its most basic form, of a spread of dough covered with tomatoes and mozzarella cheese and baked in an oven.

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Sweet Dessert Pies

Some of these pies are pies in name only, such as the Boston cream pie, which is a cake. Many fruit and berry pies are very similar, varying only the fruit used in filling.